Reading Lists

16 Book Covers as Rihanna Outfits

The book industry has gone full RiRi and we have proof

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There’s little doubt in my mind that we are approaching a singularity in which Rihanna is an essential part of all cultural consumption. She’s dominated music, beauty, and now fashion, so it seemed only natural to me that her clout should extend to literature, too. She has the range. I collected some evidence of Rihanna’s uncanny ability to match even the most ambitious and current of book covers, to the extent that I’m wondering if the publishing industry has just been incepted by RiRi’s inexorable influence. I started cataloguing these on Twitter, but I’ve added some never-before-seen evidence too—all in all, it’s too much to be a coincidence. The book industry is going full RiRi, and I for one couldn’t be happier.

Jacqueline Woodson's "Red at the Bone," featuring a silhouette of a girl against a patchwork of pink, green, and brown, and a Rihanna dress in a patchwork of red, green, and brown sequins
Ta-Nehisi Coates's "The Water Dancer," showing a man floating in water, and a picture of Rihanna floating in water
Daniel Jose Older's "The Book of Lost Saints," with yellow text on a tropical turquoise and pink background, and Rihanna wearing a skirt and head scarf in aqua with yellow print
Jia Tolentino's "Trick Mirror," with pink and red text on a yellow background with diamonds in the corners, and Rihanna wearing an ornate yellow wrap over a red bustier
Erin Morgenstern's "The Starless Sea," with gold keys and silver ribbons on a black background, and Rihanna wearing a black leather dress with gold and silver hardware
Tamsyn Muir's "Gideon the Ninth," featuring a woman in black with skull face paint, and Rihanna in black with skull face paint
Kiley Reid's "Such a Fun Age," with pink text on a black and blue print background and Rihanna in a pink ruffled skirt on a black and blue background
Akwaeke Emezi's "Pet," with a young woman in pajamas and slippers on a pink cityscape, and Rihanna in pink pajamas and slippers
Kacen Callender's "Queen of the Conquered," with a profile of a woman in a white head wrap with pink flowers and a black snake, and Rihanna in a pink ruffled dress with black gloves and flowers around her head
Erin Somers's "Stay Up with Hugo Best,' with an inflatable swan, and Rihanna on an inflatable swan
Karen Russell's "Orange World," a solid orange cover with black text and a small image of a fox in a cream-colored crib, and Rihanna in an orange coat and cream-and-black snake boots on an orange background
Stephen Hawking's "Brief Answers to the Big Questions," with two interlocking blue circles, and Rihanna in blue with a large round tulle headdress seated in a bubble
Andrea Lawlor's "Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl," with a pink draped figure on a pink background, and Rihanna in a pink draped gown
Rebecca Makkai's "The Great Believers," with a pattern of orange and red and pink stripes, and a selfie of Rihanna in an orange and red and pink striped top
Samanta Schweblin's "Mouthful of Birds," with a background of jewel-toned butterfly wings, and Rihanna in lingerie on a tropical background in similar colors
Juliet Escoria's "Juliet the Maniac," with black and white text on a millennial pink background, and Rihanna in a white getup reminiscent of a medical back brace

About the Author

Angeline Rodriguez is an associate editor at Orbit Books, specializing in speculative fiction. She was founder and co-chair of the employee group POC@PRH, and is a member of PoC in Publishing and Latinx in Publishing.

More about the author
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